The North Texas men's golf team entered last season's American Conference Championship tournament with its eyes set on an NCAA Regional appearance.
The team placed third following a program-best conference round with a score of 277 on the final day of the tournament. Despite not advancing, the result was two places higher than last year's fifth-place finish.
North Texas' national rank fell eight spots after head coach Luke Calcatera's second season, according to NCAA rankings. He said the team is focusing on consistency and growing confidence heading into his third year in the position.
"What we're capable of doing, we don't want to put just one goal on that," Calcatera said. "It's mainly just focusing on how we can get better, not giving ourselves a label and then just letting ourselves go out there and play."
The 2025-2026 roster, which Calcatera said will focus on development, includes both familiar and new faces hoping to add to the trophy collection in the team's Bruzzy's golf facility.
Returning players for the Mean Green include sophomore golfers Alex Huang and Blake Keen, who led last year's team in average and best round, respectively.
Huang and Keen were both part of Calcatera's first freshman recruiting class at North Texas and contributed early as true freshmen. Now they head into their second year with another season of development under their belts.
"There's a lot of things that they saw for the first time last year," Calcatera said. "Now, you're going back through it more prepared and have seen it before, so we've got a lot more experience."
Keen, who earned all-conference honors his freshman year, spent the offseason recovering from a back injury and said he feels ready to contribute in year two.
"I had to take a couple months off for my back," Keen said. "I started to get healthy about four weeks ago or so, just prepping for the season and getting ready."
Huang, meanwhile, spent his offseason participating in competitive play, with Calcatera saying the results have already started to show.
The Mean Green fields their five best players every tournament based on results from qualifying rounds played among teammates. Calcatera said Huang has been a standout player so far, performing early in the qualifiers.
"Alex has played a lot of tournaments over the summer and played really well in some elite amateur events," Calcatera said. "When we started qualifying, he won our first qualifier and played really well."
This year's opening tournament takes place on Sept. 7 at the Argent Financial Classic hosted by Louisiana Tech University, with qualifying rounds deciding the team's opening lineup.
"You have to be ready every day to go and compete because we have so many qualifying rounds we're playing to see who we're going to take to Louisiana," Calcatera said.
Incoming golfers include freshmen Mitchell Maier and Rayhan Latief, as well as two senior transfers from the University of Central Arkansas, Noah Blaickner and Kalle Svederman.
Senior Alvaro Roldos and juniors Rafael Estrada and Joe Stover will also return to the 2025-26 roster. Estrada and Stover were both part of the traveling squad that secured a top-five finish at the American Conference Championship this past spring.
The bolstered roster has already made an impression on Keen, who is eager to continue competing for qualifying spots alongside his teammates.
"Qualifying has been tight," said Keen. "The team is really good this year, and competing with these guys is awesome."
Calcatera believes the collective talent of the group will provide opportunities for players to rise to the occasion.
"It's a lot more competitive the whole way through the lineup this year, so [we are] excited to see who steps up and takes that spot," said Calcatera. "It's difficult to be one of those five, and there's a lot of depth in that area."
Blaickner is another tournament spot competitor who enters his last season of collegiate golf after arriving over the offseason.
He said the program's team construction, facilities and coaching matched his ambitions coming from Central Arkansas. While this year's NCAA Regional starts May 18, Blaickner believes this roster's talent and experience could propel them even further.
"I think this year we have a good chance to make nationals and at least get a run for it," said Blaickner. "I think we're going to be dangerous."